Johnson City Press from Johnson City, Tennessee • 1

rrr state JOWMSOW-O-l-lKESS-CC-IIRONIICLE STATE WHAT THE PEOPLE KNOW WlfL HURT THEJ JOHNSON CITY TENNr 37601 THURSDAY MORNING APRIL4yfe69" Vol 49 No 259 Doily 10c Sunday 20c Phon 928-2141 2 Sections 28 Pages -mm Sir-ham sets death In confused House Motions sentencing set May-14 Cigarette bill brings first rural-urban fight LOS ANGELES (AP) Sir-han Bishara Sirhan whose assassination of Sen Robert Kennedy stunned a nation afflicted with violence was condemned today to die in' the gas chamber The 25-yeat-old Arab The House of Representatives yesterday adjoumecTTfl serious rural-urban fight of' the session erupted over a to adjourn until 10 am today on a motion by Rep Ed A 1 A- iL 4aV i4V Ju the tax on a gait? -v rismwin smog: gum wheft 43 4 5" WVt Bills bytheclozens Ford Foundation under 0 fire from new tax plan legislative session The -mass of bills will put an end4o the 30-minute sessions that have been held by the legislature of iate-tUPI Telephoto) Imogene Nixon chierbilTcIerk for 1he Tennessee Senate goes over a huge 6tack of bills introduced yesterday the last day for introduction of bills this Introduced by Bill would restrict powers of Higher Education board and his jaw" never stopped moving as the jury was polled one by In the section sat the 30-year-old brother Adel He declined to talk to newsmen after the ver diet saying in a choked voice Mrs Mary Sirhan and a 21-yearold son Munir were at the family home in Pasadena listening to a radio mother is very Adel said before the verdict She is taking this very Sirhan struck down Kennedy with a bullet in the brain as the New York brother of assassinated president John Kennedy campaigned for the highest office last June The same jury that convicted Sirhan of first-degree murder last Thursday also decreed his death The decision followed 11 hours and 45 minutes of deliberations that began last Monday -Superior Court Judge Herbert-V Walker set May 14 for hear local solons ceming the state-supported institutions of higher learning would like to see the State Board of Education the U-T Board of Trustees and the colleges and the universities run their own business without 4he veto power of the Higher Education Commission hanging over their Bible declared The Higher Education Commission was created by the legislature to coordinate the colleges and universities appropriations and It has power to grantor refuse new program development This has caused a great deal of controversy over the state and Upper East Tennessee members to the legis The results of such work also would have to be made public The committee received testimony that the Ford Foundation made grants totaling $131000 to eight former aides of Sen Robert Kennedy aftei assassination McGeorge Bundy president of the Ford Foundation said the study and travel grants were justified in educational But the senior Republican member of the committee Rep John Byrnes R-Wis described them as severance pay The committee was told also (See TAX Page 14) Vietnam Copters involved in mishaps i Blank D-Columbi nrnnv 8 't 1 rjss -Tfrtah4awinakerstacked onf an amendment to provide that two-fifthe-of the proceeds from the tax be 1 returned to local school boards 'on the basis of average daily attendance' The amendment in effect would return about $8 million of the anticipated $20 million' to local school boards -Rep Charles Howell R-Nash-ville sponsor of the amendment said it would help local governments to fmance their share of education Rep Neese D-Paris complained that bill is going to aid the larger counties and not the smaller counties The State Board of Education can do a better job of spending this money" An attempt to table the proposal failed by a vote of 41-41 and the amendment was then adopted 4341 Rep i Franklin Cochran R- Tiptonville attempted to stall action on the bill until today This move failed 4345 The bill is sponsored by Rep Gayle -Malone D-Trenton who said the entire proceeds would gOL for kindergarten through grade 12 This was the second major tax bill to come before the general assembly this -session An attempt to levy a tax onavia-tion fuel did not pass The House will resume debate the cigarette tax measure today other important legislation on calendars includes the mammoth general appropriations bill in the Senate and a trading stamp bill in the House The trading stamp measure would allow consumers to decide whether they want to redeem theirtrading stamps for cash or merchandise In other action yesterday the House killed a bill that would have prohibited strikes by public employes and the Senate passed and sent to the House a compromise bill placing an additional $10 fee on all (See CIGARETTE Page 14) NASHVILLE (l)PI) confusion after the first cigarette tax bill The House voted 4842 1 1 A1 Rivers gives order for investigation WASHINGTON (UPI) Chairman Mendel Rivers D-S of the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday ordered a full investigation into North shooting down bf a US Navy reconnaissance plane Rivers directed Rep Otis Pike D-NY to the of his current inquiry into the capture of the USS Pueblo to include the loss of the EC121 April 14 In addition to investigating the plane incident Rivers told Pike in a the mission and the rules of of the naval task force dispatched to the Sea- of Japan to back up President pledge that future reconnaissance flights would be protected Rivers assigned the new inquiry to Pike because he said the latest incident the of the seizure of the Pueblo Jan 23 1968 Pike already has said that he sees similarities- between the two events He has also said: that the Navy in not providing protection for the plane had WASHINGTON (AP) Two of the Nixon tax recommendations on foundations appear to be aimed directly at practices of the $35-billion Ford Foundation Vice President Spiro Ag-new may have had this in mind when he inserted a tongue-in-cheek remark into a speech in New York Tuesday night Agnew said President Nixon had asked him to to you that as a result of secret peace talks held today a breakthrough and meaningful negotiations are being held which hopefully will bring about a phased withdrawal of the Ford Foundation from its tax-exempt status Two administration recom- mendations on foundations tie in directly with previous testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee about the Ford Foundation One reads' private foundations from engaging in activities which directly affect political campaigns such as voter registration Another would require that a makes a grant to an individual it must make public the names of the recipients and a description of activities financed by the grant Area deaths Mrs Kate Shell city John Simmons Mountain Home Mrs May Snapp city David Cunningham Mouifc tain City Mrs Eugene Gette Elizabethtown Mrs Lucy Hartsell Telford William Keen Runion Erwin ing motions for a new trial and it was presumed he would pronounce formal sentence then -He will be asked at that time to reduce the sentence to life in prisoru an option he has exer- cised but once in 19 jury death verdicts The seven men and five women an assemblage that includes PhD ting at the defense table coat- ess anj tejess bjue SAIGON More than 40 allied soldiers have been killed wounded in a rash ofJnI fSihanj was sit- or 1" a and va plumber filed into their seats without once 1 Cornell Black militants await next faculty move he has worn through most of the trial The jury gave a buzzer signal at 11:04 am that it had reached its in the 16th week of the and a Jew minutes lat er a deputy sheriff Frederick Davis went to 13th floor cell to let him knnwth the Higher Education Commis son was created by the Legis- lature in 1967 that he little from the PuebloTtood its intent was to stm which also was carrying out an intelligence gathering mission without escort when seized In his letter to Pike Rivers said he wished to particularly emphasize his interest ascertaining the command and control response to the execu- tive to the downing of the plane There have been reports from time had come Sirhan was standing in front of a mirror wearing only his underwear and was combing his hair was the only word he said to Davis Half an hour later Sirhan puffing a last-minute cigarette (See SIRHAN Page 14) Unseasonably cold iveather passing through Pjfa xtf felkMMHMMlJ lature have expressed deep concern that the commission may restrict the future growth of East Tennessee State University particularly in doctoral programs Good noted that many of the recommendations in the controversial draft report issued by the Higher Education Commis: sion affect voicing his supporkfor the bill He said he felt itwasokayfor the commission to have advisory functions but he was opposed to its having governing powers conducive to future The Johnson City legislator said withheld a-bill-he had (See BILL Page 14) may be injustices against white students in this until injustices are ended against blacks He said the Afro-American So- which claims to repre- sent-most of popular tion of 250 will wait to see what the university plans to do next That his group still had to make Sure the examines its racism and ends Perkins said his emergency regulations banning all firearms from the campus remained in effect At the same time he said he was recommending that one third of 245 riot trained sent home The special officers had been kept on round the clock alert in downtown Ithaca The full faculty unanimously approved a motion that former dean of the faculty Robert who resigned after the faculty turned down the "amnesty agreement he negotiated as part of the package under which the vacated Straight Hall-r-be reinstated as dean Monday the faculty group had voted to declare and the amnesty action Miller said late Wednesday: request from the faculty and the university to resignation I am prepared to do so if the trustees who now have my letter of re-signation wishme One faculty member Clitton Rossiter' an expert on the American presidency told a reporter he changed his vote from opposition to support bf the discipline question after hours of Rossiter said he got two vile telephone calls Tuesday night on the subject of his earlier opposition He said the threats had nothingio do with his change of heart The weekend occupation of (See CORNELL Page 14) At present Ellington noted design or right-of-way acquisition is underway on those sections of 1-81 not now under construction or advertised for bidding Present programming of the State Highway Department 'calls for bidding on 51 miles section of 1-81 from the Washington County line to 4 miles west of the Clinch-field Railroad in Sullivan County on May 29 The initial members of Congress ihatjlegislature had intended it" to American helicopter mishaps in South Vietnam in a 24-hour period the US military com-mind reported Wednesday The fosses raised to 1079 the total number of US helicopters downed in South -Vietnam said Military spokesmen said at least four helicopters were shot down by Communist ground fire or shattered by mines and two others crashed after colliding in flight A seventh helicopter mistakenly fired 'on allied ground troops killing six (See VIETNAM Page 14) a Democratic Society in students jmd faculty yes- Washington was not notified of the incident until an hour after the plane had been shot down The new investigation could begin as early as Friday (P-C Naihvlll Buraau) NASHVILLE Members of the Washington and Sullivan County delegation to the legislature introduced a bill yesterday to restrict the powers of the Higher Education Commission Chief sponsor in the House is Rep Robert Bible R-Kings-port Among others signing the House bill were Reps Robert Good of Johnson City Robinson of Jonesboro Forma Peters-of Elizabethton and Doyle Moore of Erwin Sen Hayden Baker of Kingsport introduced the bill in die upper chamber with Sen Howard Dunbar of Johnson City signing it along with two Nashville Democrats Sens Jerry Agee and James Roberson Since most members of the Upper East Tennessee legislative delegation signed this-bill it meant the end of any attempt by House members to introduce legislation calling for abolishment of the Higher Education Commission" Agee had such a bill in the Senate -Bible commented that when higher education across the state and then advise and make recommendations- to the general assembly the State Board of Education and the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees Bible said way the bill'was-'drafted-the power of the Higher Education Commission has been more far-reaching than I had expected or in my opinion than the be -He said the bill introduced yesterday would restrict the power of the Higher Education Commission to and making recommendations con- The proposal calls for grading draining and -construc-tion ofsevenbridgesalong the route State engineers have placed the cost of this work at $53 million and expect completion of this construction phase in 325 working days Gov Ellington told the Johnson City Press-Chronicle Significant progress is being made at this time and the Friday bid-letting is of course another -step In that direc- Officials say Water shortages caused by water-pipe problems Cold nights and cool days in the middle of April are called Dogwood Winter Actually it seems just plain unseason-bly-jcoltL-no-Xancy- -tached The weatherman says today will be warmer under partly cloudy skies The high temperature is expected to be about 62 degrees and the low tonight about 35 degrees Tomorrow is expected to ha sunny and warmer the weatherman says high was 51 degrees following an early morning low of 44 degrees At 9:30 last night the temperature was 45 degrees the relative humidity was 68 percent the win! was from the west at seven miles per hour and the barometer was steady at 2993 indies ITHACA NY (AP) Cor-nell faculty reversed itself Wednesday and agreed to a key demand by Ne gro militants who touched off a five-day challenge to law and ben' guns appeared on- the Ivy League campus The crisis however was not completedly ended by the action of the 1100 faculty members voting in a closed meeting by a 7-3 margin to drop all disciplinary action against five Negro students School President James A Perkins" Negro militant leader Edward Whitfield and faculty members got waves of applause later from 7000 students who had held an overnight sit-in at a meeting hall 'to back up the demands University permission was granted for the sit-in which later was ended Whitfield president of the Afro-American Society said is not He told the gathering On the news beats Auto Sales North Roan St was burglarized Tues- table JeleVision and broke into a filing cabinet Johnson City PoliceDetectiveLLouis Auer reported Mike Foster 19 Jonesboro was treated at Johnson City Memorial Hospital for back injuries he suffered in an automobile accident Sunday according to a hospital spokesman A car motorcycle collisfon Roger Dale Ford 14 Rt 6 Jonesboro to Johnson City Memorial Hospital where he was admitted in satisfactory condi-(See BEATS Page 14) referring to interstate highway work in Upper East Tennessee He added are going to continue to try and stay on schedule and con- tmue to move as rapidiy as State highway officials have told the governor that some type of work will be underway on all the remaining sec-' tions of Interstate 81 within the next ISmonths pending the availability of federal aid highway funds Why is there a water shortage in the city when only last week there were rainstorms is a question being fielded by city offieials over and over again The answer according to officials is that the source of water has not become critical but its delivery to the consumer has Rain makes no more water flow through the pipes which can catxy only certain number of gallons into the city The problem is thexonsumption A big rain storm makes cars porches and machinery dirty and most people burry as soon as the storm is over to wash away that dirt with water of course When they do the pipeline cannot deliver enough water to the reservoir to supply the city and thus a water shortage Another rumor is that the city is selling water to outlying districts False says the city manager The city is buying as much water as it can from Jonesboro and Milligan All indications show it will be a long dry summer Black demands met Cornell University President James A Perkins right meets with Eric Evans left a leader of Afro-American Society and David Burak of the faculty voted to support demands (UPI Telephoto) Governor well area highway construction Weather Guide TEMPERATURES (By th Wtathtr Bureau) 4 4 10 12 90 41 4a 45 44 42 TRI-CltiES Today partly cloud and mild in the afternoon Tonight ooldU Tomorrow tunny and warmer is expected to cost $61 million for initial stages jf construction Other interstate projects to the upper east Tennessee area call for construction of a welcome station on 140 in Cocke Also other phases of work in East Tennessee wiITinclude early phases of right-of-way acquisition on those sections of 140 East of Knoxville not presently under-construction or open to traffic Students for front of 6000 ing that section of 1-81 from State Route 160 to State Route 34 in Hamblen and Greene counties This section is presently under construction and completion of the work expected to start this summer will complete 112 miles for traffic use This paving project is -expected to cost more than $3 million Other interstate work in the Jefferson County area -calls for construction of three terday afteFThe black rests areas on 140 and 1-81 at an estimated cost of more than $1 million These are expected to be placed under construction this summer Late this year and to time for an early spring start on construction bids will be opened on the remaining sections J-81 jn Sullivan County from just West of the Clinchfield Railroad to state route 126 (old llw) Northwest of Blountville This 72 mile By BILL JENNINGS (P-C Nuhvilte BurMU) NASHVILLE Gov -Buford Ellington said yesterday he is pleased with the progress report on interstate highway construction in Upper East Tennessee given him by the state highway department Bids will be opened tomorrow by the State Highway Department for construction of 8 5 miles of Interstate 81 just South of Bristol to near Gunnings Community construction of tnis section is expected to cost $3 million for grading draining and construction of necessary bridges Also included in this ecf will be construction of 9 miles of Appalachian Development Highway which will interchange -with 1-61 This project is expected to cost $933000 Early summer bidding is planned on paving and sign.